NORTH DAKOTA

In my mission to visit all 50 states, I had to find a reason to get to North Dakota. A vacation destination that deeply upset my Lyft driver to the airport that morning, but it had to be done. But, what makes North Dakota the hottest of off-season destinations?

Oh, I don’t know, maybe because this widely neglected state is home to the unfairly underrated Theodore Roosevelt National Park? Who’d have guessed such a place was tucked up here in the most northern of the plains?

To be fair, Theodore Roosevelt NP is pretty much in Montana, but luckily for North Dakota they get the credit for this one. And maybe I’m not giving North Dakota a fair shot after all because early May is pretty far from the best time of year to venture up in this direction, but in all honesty the three-ish hour drive in from Bismarck seems endless. It’s vacant, brown, flat, dead, and everything else you were afraid it would be. The most you can hope for is the occasional religious billboard with bold messaging like “Catholics believe WHAT?!” that can keep you amused for a handful of minutes before going back to imagining the horrors of being a pioneer doomed to make this wasteland your home.

But to be less of a dick, I’m sure ND would suck less in the months where there’s some warmth and green on the trees. Plus I get a thrill of seeing the beauty in places that others hate. Regardless of season, the true highlight of the drive is our vascular queen of the plains, Salem Sue. 

Theodore Roosevelt National Park is pretty tiny when it’s all said and done, so it doesn’t require days on days of attention. While the plains aren’t at their peak in the off-season, know what is? The lack of crowds. We essentially had the place to ourselves for all the photo opps and prairie dog & bison scouting one could ever need in an afternoon of milling about in the South unit of the park.

Fortunately there were just enough people around to keep it from being desolate and creepy, but not once did anybody get in our way. Off-season travel is truly a beautiful thing that I hope we can all experience without ruining it for each other.

Wind Canyon Trail is one of the most popular hikes in this tragically unpopular park. Bonus, it’s also a gorgeous place to watch the sunset. This is also the token view of the park that I would say is the most widely photographed. Although considering the park has only 600k yearly visitors (compare to Great Smoky Mountains which hosted 11 million visitors in 2016) it’s still a bit of a rarity.

Boicourt Trail is possibly my favorite place in the park. You know a trail is good if your family repeatedly warns you specifically to pay attention to your footing to avoid toppling to certain death. In all seriousness, unsure I’ve been anywhere so unexpectedly majestic. 

Another cool thing here? Wild HORSES. I was never an elementary school horse girl but buddy I am here to tell you that as of this trip I became a bonafide wild horse girl. I swear I think they’re prettier, which could be their general radiance of freedom but it’s a privilege to just be near them. Alexa, play Space Cowboy by Kacey Musgraves.

On my trip I stayed in the bordering town of Medora, which offers plenty of entertainment for after hours. Ok, so not so much during the off-season when the only open restaurant is the Little Missouri Saloon & Dining Room, which was on our list anyway so this was actually a blessing. Tacky saloon culture is literally my favorite part about going out west.

The whole town was built on theme with the purpose to be an adorably weird entryway to this neglected National Park. Even the post office & bank seemed like it was an amusement park town, however were truly functional businesses with real people living nearby.

Recently I was asked what there “even is to do in North Dakota” and while I hesitated a bit, it’s hard for me to act like this place isn’t a total wonderland tucked within the grasslands. Medora doesn’t even feel like North Dakota. No matter what time of year you go (well, except winter because fuck that) you’ll get to experience first hand the western charm for yourself.

And yes, a midwest bonus shot to leave you with.